As NHS trusts stand poised to implement a strict regime to limit junior doctors' working hours, one hospital has pioneered a scheme where nurses take the pressure off their senior colleagues.

Nottingham City Hospital is one of 19 establishments to run a pilot scheme to identify ways that trusts can comply with the new rules, which restrict doctors to a 58-hour week.

They have employed three senior nurses in their cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) who are trained and authorised to do some of the work that doctors would normally carry out.

This frees up the doctors to concentrate on more pressing matters, although they are always available should a situation arise where a patient's condition needs treatment outside the nurses' agreed area of responsibility.

It's bridging the gap in the hierarchy and pushing nursing forward to show what we are capable of